Quincy to celebrate Presidents Day with Winter Fest

On Presidents Day, Monday, Feb. 19, Quincy will hold its second free Winter Fest event at the Church of the Presidents.

"The mayor wanted to take back Presidents Day," said John McDonald, a Quincy resident who runs JM Productions, which Mayor Thomas Koch's office hired to put on the event.

The church is the final resting place of the two presidents from what is now Quincy, which at the time was part of Braintree: John Adams, the country's second president, and his son John Quincy Adams, its sixth. It also holds John's wife, Abigail, and John Quincy Adams' wife, Louisa Catherine.

The event will take place over the course of the day inside the church at 1306 Hancock St., also known as the United First Parish Church. Tours of the crypt holding the presidents and first ladies will take place all day long.

The Drawbridge Puppet Theater will put on renditions of Little Red Riding Hood at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. The Patriot Brass Band will play at 11 a.m. and 1:45 p.m.

"They give proceeds of their events to veterans," McDonald said.

Northeastern University professor Ted Miller will give a talk at 12 p.m. about the 1828 presidential campaign between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Finally, the Quincy Symphony Orchestra will cap off the day by performing at 3:15 p.m.

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